Common Core Excitement!

This school year is flying by at top speed. There are officially 18 school days left.  I am already thinking ahead to the up coming year & summer PD.  There are so many Good Changes heading our way!  Yes, I said it "Good Changes," a.k.a... Common Core. 

Where did this burning desire to explore common core come from?  Amazon of course.  It doesn't take much to make a nerdy teacher happy!  

I received a box of fan-tabulous math related picture books today.  Each book addresses a specific second grade math concept.  It's my summer goal to create common core lessons for each of the books.  Each lesson will address specific standards, provide cross curriculum resources, hands on options, and performance based assessments (formative & summative).   Wooohooo! Summertime here I come.

The first three choices for this common core adventure relate math to students' everyday world by using some realistic examples and some wild imaginary scenarios .

What would you do if you woke up on different days and faced a variety mathematical dilemmas?

The little boy in these stories wakes up each day to a new mathematical adventure.

On "One Odd Day," his shirt has three arms.  There are only odd numbers on his clock.

Everything on "My Even Day" turns out even.

When the little boy wakes up on "My Half Day," half of his hair is missing, along with 1/2 of many other things!  

Twelve Snails and One Lizard is a fantasy tale of "Mischief and Measurement." Two silly friends must discover different ways to measure inches, feet, and yards.  The essential question here is, "What is the most efficient way to measure?"  

Measuring Penny is a realistic fiction book that helps children apply measurement in a very relatable context.   A little girl measures her dog Penny in variety of creative ways.  

"How Big is a Foot?" is a short fairy tale about a king that wants to build a bed before beds and standard measurement were invented.   

Finally, I'd like to share one more great resource that I stumbled upon today.  It's a downloadable, printable common core resource book.  There is a free sample & the price is $39.99 for the complete download per grade level.  I am considering using this resource to create literacy work stations. As we have just adopted a new reading series, I am redoing everything.  This would give me a head start on the process.    www.commoncorestandards.com 

 

Number Sense Routines Session 2

I participated in a wonderful PD this afternoon. Lot's of great discussions (math talk) among colleagues. We took an in-depth look at number sense.  My favorite quote from today's session was:
"In order to "get the point" students need lots of opportunities to bump into number sense ideas, use number sense, and discuss number sense ideas and strategies with peers,"  Jessica Shumway.

For this PD, we revisited Jessica's book  Number Sense Routines: Building Numerical Literacy Every Day in K-3 .  Last week I used a pre-made Prezi for the book study. This week I am happy to share my first Prezi.  I had a lot of fun playing with the three D features.  All of the quotes in the Prezi came from Jessica's book.




Today's PD provided an intense focus on what effective routines look and sound like in elementary classrooms.  The session included visits to some amazing classrooms via the Teaching Channel:
Third Grade Math Routines
Mingle and Count (Kindergarten)
Make Math Fun with Place Value Games

A large chunk of today's math talk centered on the topic of subitizing.   Opportunities for number sense development, subitizing are created by using quick images (shapes & tens frames).  Below are links to some online lesson plans that reinforce this strategy:

Dot Card and Ten Frame Activities
Multiplication and Ten Frames

Thank you to all of the amazing SCDE teachers that made it out today.  SCDE just completed the second day of TCAP testing.  Everyone, teachers and students are starting to feel exhausted. I truly appreciate the extra effort that was required to attend today's session.

I am looking forward to more professional development opportunities the first week of June.  The next book study will focus on Moving Into Math Stations by Debbie Diller.  I had the opportunity to hear Debbie speak at the 2012 ASCD conference.  Her ideas were insightful and motivating.  This should be a fabulous time of collaboration.  I am hoping to see lots of my SCDE colleagues there.

Number Sense Routines Session 1

Last Thursday, I had the previllege of leading a PD session utilizing ideas from, Number Sense Routines: Building Numerical Literacy Every Day in Grades K-3 by Jessica Shumway.

I began reading this selection over spring break and couldn't wait to share my experience with colleagues.   We scratched the surface on Thursday by covering the foundational ideas in chapter 1.  Using an already made Prezi by Julie Smith, we explored the characteristics and skills needed to develop numerical literacy.  I used the Prezi to create a "Magic Vocabulary"  activity for PD Participants to complete.   

We will meet again in the up coming week to work through chapter 2.  This is open to all SCDE teachers. 

I highly recommend this book for a K-5, Professional Learning Community (PLC) book study.  

Telling Time Common Core Lesson

The following lesson focuses on Common Core math standard 2.MD.7, AKA telling time. For this lesson, students will explore time by reading and acting out an Eric Carle Classic, The Very Grouchy Ladybug. Rigor was added to the lesson by including Common Core learning tasks. This is such a popular story the ready made resources were enormous. I tried hard to use ideas that effectively reenforced the standard. The various resources I utilized for this presentation can be accessed on the last slide.

My second graders are chomping at the bit to jump into telling time. We have touched on the concept several times during our daily math routines. I can't wait to have fun with this concept and hear what my students have to say using their "Math Talk."

Below is an online version of the lesson or it may be download in powerpoint via the Tennessee Trending Teacher wiki.

The Very Grouchy Ladybug

More PowerPoint presentations from Charity Dowell

Lesson Plan The Very Grouchy Lady Bug 
Second Grade, Common Core Learning Task 

Standards: 
Math – 2.MD.7 Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes.
Reading – RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
Student “I Can” Statements:

• I can tell time to the nearest 5 minutes.
• I can understand the difference between am & pm.
• I can retell a story using complete sentences, expression, and character voices to make the story interesting. 

Essential question:
Why is it important to be able to tell time?

Assessing and Advancing Questions:
What do you know about time?
What have you learned about time?
How do you know your answer is correct?

Assessment: 
Can students…

• draw the hands on a clock to show a given time 
• write the time using numbers and symbols
• describe how they determined the time 

Sequence of whole group, small group, & Independent work: 

• Brainstorm & create an anchor chart. What do you know about time? (5 mins) 
• Set the purpose by asking questions to introduce The Very Grouchy Ladybug (5 mins). 
• Read the story (5-10 mins). 
• Transition Time - Personal think time – What do you know about time, after reading The Very Grouchy Ladybug ? Shoulder partner discussions time. Whole group.- Make changes to the anchor chart. Add permanent writing. (3-6 mins). 
• Review slides 5-9, How are AM and PM different (3-7mins)? 
• Explore an analog clock with a partner Using flash cards and manipulative clocks (5-8 mins). 
• Links to printable flash cards on resources page. Time for Time Drill: Review power point and use manipulative clocks (10mins). 
• Close/End of the Day review – Using performance based assessments. This can be treated as an exit slip if used for formative assessment. (5-10 mins). 
• Cross Curriculum Connections: Readers’ Theater using illustrations and multimedia resources, slides 56-66 (10-30 mins).

The Greedy Triangle: Common Core Lesson, Geometry

After a quick google search for lessons and resources related to polygons, I came up a plethora of resources.  Here's a common core lesson complete with performance based assessments. It incorporates the "The Greedy Triangle," my new favorite shape book.  The presentation can be downloaded through www.authorstream.com.

The Greedy Triangle Cyber - Polygon Lesson

More PowerPoint presentations from Charity Dowell

I just added a page to the Tennessee Trending Teacher Wiki.  The Greedy Triangle, Alexander Who Use to Be Rich,  and other common core lessons will be accessible for downloaded ASAP on the Second Grade Common Core Lessons page.

Common Core Task Revisited: Alexander Who Used to Be Rich

Here's a final product for the "Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday," Common Core task.  After watching the video clips, my next pedagogical area to tackle is academic feedback.  I would like to hear more of that from myself and my students.  With that said... here it is. :)

A picture slideshow by Smilebox